Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Chapter 87

Two Men's Hypocrisy

“This has gone on for long enough!!”

The King of Vorzenny slammed the table of the living room, where the Vorzennian Diplomats were housed. It had a very similar theme with the one provided to the Al-Khemiyans, but they did not change anything about it. Vorzennians were practical people.

King Gennaro glared at his Hero, who was stapling his hands together, one leg restlessly moving up and down. Two of his trusted subordinates were standing behind him. One was the Captain of the King’s Watchmen, Dario Santana. And the other was his Private Secretary, Giosco Notte.

“My subordinates reported to me that you’ve been neglecting your duty. They say that you’ve been going to the Hunter’s Guild every day since the Ball ended,” the man growled. His mild-mannered façade now gone. “Do you still even remember what I told you to do?!”

“Yes. I know. You told me to charm the spouses of the important nobles and seek out information. Things we can use to blackmail them. But I’m doing this for a more important reason,” Yuuji said, gritting his teeth.

The man sighed as he pulled back and massaged his wrinkled forehead with his thing fingers. “You remember. Good. Then why in Udurr’s Sword aren’t you doing what I told you to?! I don’t care what you do in your free time! You can fuck all the women in this city for all I care, but I want results!! And what did you give me? NOTHING!!”

“Your Highness. You must calm down,” Giosco reminded him. “Mister Yuuji. You are a Hero. But, at the same time, you are also a soldier under the King. You have the obligation to follow His order.”

“I know,” the Hero said, with a heart full of unwillingness. “I am sorry. I promise you. I will do better next time.”

“There is no next time,” King Gennaro exclaimed. “The decision has just been made this afternoon. Al-Khemiya agreed on supporting Calendia. And as a member of a Tripartite Alliance between 3 Countries, I cannot say no to this.”

“W-what do you mean?

“It means, Hero. Is that I’ve been pushing and pulling for too long. Today the decisions had been made. Now that Al-Khemiya had chosen to join with Calendia. Vorzenny would have to follow suit. You will leave with us tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? That’s too soon!”

“It’s not your place to question my order. You have failed me, but we still need of you. My Kingdom needs a Hero. Prepare to leave. I have no desire to stay any longer in this Country.”

“I need one more day. One more day!” Yuuji shouted in desperation.

Dario, who had been silent since the beginning of the meeting moved forward and pushed Yuuji back to his seat. He tried to stand up again, but Dario had placed his hand on his shoulder. It was like a boulder had sat on him and he could not move. Yuuji was surprised. It meant that this silent man had higher status and Level than him.

Dario twitched his moustache as he looked at him with disdain. “His Highness has ordered you to sit. So, sit.”

“Now, Dario. No need for that,” Giosco said with a thin smile. “You are hurting the poor young man. But tell us, Hero. Why are you so adamant about this?”

“The Treasure of the First King of Calendia!!” He said finally.

“What?” King Gennaro unconsciously moved forward after hearing this. “The First King of Calendia, the Immortal Hero’s Treasure?”

“Yes! The girl that I am chasing right now, Cornelia Asterium Steelheart, is the only one with the knowledge of the location of the First King of Calendia’s Treasures. You know how precious it is!”

“Hmm…”

The King walked past Giosco and paced back and forth. He did not expect that he had that kind of secret on him. But a female? Yes, if he managed to entice that girl, he would be able to get his hands on them. It would be risky, but compared to the return, it was very cheap.

“What do you think, Giosco?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to let him have one more day. Your Highness.”

“…fine. But I will have someone to watch over you. Dario, assign someone capable to him.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

King Gennaro did not even give him a chance to say anything as everything was quickly decided for him.

“I will give you 3 days. Proceed with your business. And after that, you will go back to Vorzenny, no matter the result. Is that understood?”

“Y-Yes…Your Highness,” Yuuji quickly said as soon as Dario retreated his arm.

“Now leave. All of you. I need to think.”

Yuuji could not wait to leave and quickly stomped out of the door. Dario bowed perfectly and left, followed by Giosco, who knew what he was about to do and said. “I shall stay here and guard the door, shall I? Your Highness?”

“Yes. Yes. Thank you, Giosco.”

The King took a deep breath and took a small sip of the wine from a goblet on the table to wet his lips and stared at the darkness at one end of the room. And there, just there at the edge of the corner of his eye, he could see 2 figures.

“Just come out already,” the King said as he finished the wine and put the goblet aside. “I might be a King now, but I used to fight on the Frontline. I can smell their stench on you.”

2 figures appeared from the shadow. Both wearing black masks that covered their faces and most of their heads. But from the build, he could see that one was a female and the other a male.

The man took out black slate from an Item Ring and the female wrote on it with white chalk.

The King groaned at this and squinted at the very poor penmanship and barely managed to eke out words from the result.

This is not what we agreed to.

“There is a limit to what we can do. We are in a foreign country. We do not have the resources available to us like what we have in our own country,” he paused. “And that damnable Advisor, Alrond. I think he’s on to us. I’d rather not fight in an enemy’s territory.”

That is not of our concern.

“Of course, you don’t care a whit. You two are nothing but the Demon’s Puppets. Betrayers of your Race.”

The hypocrisy of that sentence is not lost to us.

The King of Vorzenny scratched his hair angrily and growled. “Just tell your Master that I will wash my hands off this. I have done my part. I have helped you and your compatriots enter this land. I will do no more,” he smiled disdainfully at the figures in black before him. “All this wouldn’t have happened if the Demons did not botch capturing the Maiden of Water in the first place.”

We are not part of that mission. We have a different purpose. They have failed on their mission because they underestimate humans. We will not.

“W-what do you…mean?”

The two did not answer and melted into the shadow. Leaving only the perplexed King Gennaro.

“Knock Knock.”

“Oh, hi, Master,” Yuuji turned his head at someone saying knock knock. It was a lame joke that happened to be his Master’s habit.

Kamiya entered Yuuji’s room where he was moping in. Smelling like wine as usual. In her hand was a half-empty bottle. Kamiya was not a poor Hunter, and her vice too was not cheap.

“Why the glum face, Yuuji?”

“The King gave me a time limit of 3 days to do what I have to do.”

“So?”

“I – I just don’t get it!” the young man scratched his head with both hands in exasperation. “I don’t know why the ‘event’ hasn’t happened yet!”

“She is at the Al-Khemiyan compound, isn’t she? Why not just have a visit?”

“Because it doesn’t work that way!” Yuuji replied hastily. “The ‘event’ must happen on its own. Otherwise, I can’t control what is happening according to the ‘scenario’!”

“Frankly, I don’t agree with what you are doing, Yuuji,” the woman said. “I’ve met the girl at the Ball last night. She was very eccentric, but nothing remarkable, I don’t know why you even need her.”

“You don’t understand, Master! It’s how it’s supposed to be done! All this time I’ve been following the ‘scenario’ and that’s how we’ve managed to gather our current party and succeeded in everything we do, up until we get to our current B-Rank Party! That’s how we managed to get my Raikiri and your twin swords, Rugell and Fahn.” The man said angrily with an increasingly higher tone. “If I don’t follow the ‘scenario’, I won’t be able to get to the ‘ending’ I want!”

“Dammit, Yuuji! See reason! I don’t understand why you need to follow the ‘scenario’! But you have me! And them! People who love you and treasure you! You don’t need to go to all this trouble for a girl from another country! She isn’t even that strong!” the woman shouted in response. “And you even made a move on her companion! She won’t forgive you for that!”

“No. That’s fine, as long as I have this Skill. No matter what I did, they will not be able to resist! After all, my ‘Cheat’ is ‘Perfect’!!”

They both looked at each other without flinching until finally, Kamiya raised her hands up.

“…Fine. You do what you want, Yuuji,” Kamiya was fed up with trying to make her student see reason and got out of the door. “I’ll be in the Tavern.”

“Ah!”

“Whoops, sorry. I did not see you there, Leida.”

“That’s fine. Is Yuuji inside?”

“Yeah. Go on in.”

“Master - !”

Kamiya went off without making an effort to reply.

The cheerful Leida felt that something was wrong and asked. “D-did I enter at a bad time?”

“It’s…it’s fine,” Yuuji grimaced, finding it odd that she could rile him up like that. But he dislodged the thought from his head and looked at Leida. “What do you need me for?”

Leida sat on Yuuji’s lap and gave him a quick kiss. “Akula was having the headaches again. It looks like she’s fighting back against your Skill, perhaps you need to reapply the Skill again.”

“Hrgh, that damn Centaur. I thought it would be nice if I can take control of her, but she did not only have the lower body of a horse. She also smelled like one…it killed off my mood,” Yuuji groaned. “Wait…you said that she was friends with Lady Cornelia before, right?”

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

“Leida, you love me, right? You trust me?”

“Of course, Yuuji. I love you the most in the world.”

“Yeah. 3 more days…we still have 3 more days. If tomorrow she still hasn’t come…then maybe I can make her come.”